Turkey moved atop its European Championship qualifying group by dominating World Cup winner France in a 2-0 home victory on Saturday (Jun 8).
Turkey has nine points from three wins and has yet to concede a goal in Group H. France had scored four goals in each of its first two wins, but this time its attack was kept quiet by Turkey's solid defense while the French defense was too easily breached.
France coach Didier Deschamps was scathing about his side's performance.
"When you play like that on a collective level there's nothing positive to take from the game," he told broadcaster TF1.
After right back Benjamin Pavard gave away a free kick on the left in the 30th minute, attacking midfielder Cengiz Under whipped the ball to the back post where it was headed back across goal for defender Kaan Ayhan to nod powerfully past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
The highly-rated 21-year-old Under, who has caught the eye several times with Roma in Italy's Serie A, put Turkey further ahead 10 minutes later with a fine finish.
France was badly at fault, though, as center back Samuel Umtiti and midfielder Paul Pogba both lost the ball in clumsy fashion and in quick succession.
Central midfielder Dorukhan Tokoz picked it up and attacked the panicky, retreating defense. He fed a pass to Under breaking into the right side of the penalty area, and Under confidently smacked a low shot into the bottom left corner.
On Tuesday, Turkey is away to third-place Iceland while France looks to bounce back at last-place Andorra.
Iceland and France have six points.
- Source: News websites
